How to go
What: “Welcome Goodbye”
Where: University of Dayton Black Box Theatre of Raymond L. Fitz Hall (Room 155), Brown and Stewart streets, Dayton
When: 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11
Cost: $12 general admission; $8 for UD students, faculty and staff
Tickets/more info: Call (937) 229-2545 or go online to www.udayton.edu/artssciences/theatre.
As the newest lecturer in the University of Dayton’s Theatre Program, Jerome Yorke is excited to introduce himself to the Dayton community in his original play “Welcome Goodbye,” an exploration of love, loss and imagination slated Friday in the Black Box Theatre of Fitz Hall.
Hired over the summer having recently transplanted with his wife from California to Cincinnati, Yorke was encouraged by UD Theatre Program director Michelle Hayford to create a fresh work that would showcase his artistic viewpoints. In fact, his faculty perspective states “theatre holds a responsibility for a perspective of personal imagination and creativity that is as important as water for sustaining life.” Reflecting on various themes from a broader sense and within his own life, he formulated a compelling, playful story dealing primarily with loss and acceptance within a journey of finding love.
“Part of what I want to bring to the American theatre is the idea that theatre is a living, breathing creation in which the audience is involved,” Yorke said. “So, a lot of the imaginative aspects of the story will come from the audience. But in my life and in the world at large, death seems to be an issue. I took the idea of welcoming what death can be as a human being because it will always be a part of our lives. We are all going to have to go through it. But I’m distilling the idea down to what it means to say goodbye to somebody. And that doesn’t necessarily mean death itself, but death in terms of a relationship. One of the most profound losses one can have in life other than death is the loss of love.”
Yorke, who holds a Master of Fine Arts in Ensemble Based Physical Theatre from Dell’Arte International and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performing Arts from Central Connecticut State University, has also fashioned the play as a devised theatre project. In the realm of devised theatre, collaboration is essential from the outset in order to determine the course and ultimately the destination.
“I wouldn’t say devised theatre is contrary to what the American theatre is now in terms of collaboration with a playwright, director, actors, and tech crew coming together,” Yorke explained. “But in devised theatre you assemble the people you want to work with and everyone together as an ensemble creates the writing, sound and atmosphere. Everyone has, to some degree, a say in the direction and the content of the piece. It’s a much more inclusive collaborative process. And I love the metaphor of the black box theatre as well. To speak toward what I hope for the future of the University of Dayton Theatre Program is that all will know devised theatre can be reliant on the imagination of the artist and the audience. So, that black empty space is like a canvas without borders for us to be able to write something that is lyrical and moves not only physically but emotionally. And when everybody, as an ensemble, puts that together it becomes a beautiful thing.”
Additionally, Yorke receives student assistance from sound designers Megan Banfield, Charles Cooke, Ashley Dew, Travis Dwire, James Fagan, Benjamin Jalowiec, Rachel Mcallister, and Rachel Twardzik as well as costume workers Morgan Kurtz, Elizabeth Mazza, Beth Fuchs, Vicki Jablonski, and Naomi Shah.
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